{"product_id":"the-last-emperor-of-mexico-edward-shawcross-9780571360574","title":"The Last Emperor of Mexico","description":"\u003cp\u003eOne of the most monstrous enterprises in the annals of international history,' said Karl Marx. 'A madness without parallel since Don Quixote,' said a future French president. This is history's judgement on the events surrounding the ill-fated reign of Maximilian of Mexico, the young Austrian archduke who in 1864 crossed the Atlantic to assume a faraway throne. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHe had been convinced to do so by a duplicitous Napoleon III. Keen to spread his own interests abroad, the French emperor promised Maximilian a hero's welcome, which he would ensure with his own mighty military support. Instead, Maximilian walked into a bloody guerrilla war - and with a headful of impractical ideals and a penchant for pomp and butterflies, the so-called new emperor was singularly unequipped for the task. The ensuing saga would feature the great world leaders of the day, popes, bandits and queens; intrigue, conspiracy and cut-throat statecraft, as Mexico became the pivotal battleground in the global balance of power, between Old Europe and the burgeoning force of the New World: American imperialism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Last Emperor of Mexico is the vivid history of this barely known, barely believable episode - a bloody tragedy of operatic proportions, and a vital debacle, the effects of which would be felt into the twentieth century and beyond.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Edward Shawcross","offers":[{"title":"Fair","offer_id":43296329040115,"sku":"8880002609010","price":16.5,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/products\/9780571360574.jpg?v=1664573165","url":"https:\/\/www.harryhartog.com.au\/products\/the-last-emperor-of-mexico-edward-shawcross-9780571360574","provider":"Harry Hartog Bookseller","version":"1.0","type":"link"}